The Daisy's Pedigree. 35 



protuberances upon the seed-like fruit. In the daisy, 

 indeed, we may say that the true calyx has been 

 dwarfed away to nothing ; but in the dandelion and 

 many other composites a new use has been found for 

 it ; it has been turned into those light feathery hairs 

 which children call 'the clock,' and which aid the dis- 

 persion of the seeds by wafting them about before the 

 wind. 



Now, what has made the daisy and the other 

 composites grow so small and thick-set } Probably 

 the need for attracting insects. By thus combining 

 their mass of bloom they are enabled to make a great 

 show in the world, and to secure the fertilisation of a 

 great many flowers at once by each insect which visits 

 the head. For each floret has its own little store of 

 honey, its own stamens, and its own pistil containing 

 an embr}'o fruit ; and when a b:e lights upon a daisy 

 head, he turns round and round, extracting all he can 

 get from ever}- tiny tube, and so fertilising the whole 

 number of florets at a single time. The result at 

 least proves that the principle is a good one ; for few 

 flowers get so universally fertilised, or set their seed 

 so regularly, as the composites. Though they must 

 have reached their present very high state of evolution 

 at a comparatively recent period, they have spread 

 already over the whole world ; and they are far more 



